Natalia Kowalski

Name: Natalia Kowalski

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Grade: 12th

School: Aurora High School

Hobbies and Interests: Animals, Astronomy, Orchestra

Appearance: Natalia has pale skin and stands at 5'10" and 175 lbs with a round childish face. Natalia is slightly overweight and has some fat around the stomach and thighs, yet she has wide hips and an average sized bust. She has straight, long golden blonde hair that reaches halfway down her back. Her bangs are usually long and swept over her extremely bushy eyebrows, something Natalia dislikes, but never styles, as Natalia finds it too high maintenance. She has a small nose, thin lips, and big, dull green eyes. She is somewhat pale, but her skin usually remains blemish free. Most breakouts happen along her forehead, but they're usually hidden by her bangs.

Her wardrobe is generally warm-colored. Natalia often has on a yellow or orange shirt and pairs these with either jeans or skirts. With skirts, she wears stockings. Shoes range from UGGs to sneakers. On the island, she was wearing a yellow shirt with a tree decal, a black skirt, stockings, and UGG boots.

Biography: Natalia Amber Kowalski was born to (Australian) Karen Abernathy and (Polish) Joseph Kowalski. Both grew up in Washington, Joseph living in Seattle and Karen living in Newcastle. Both attended Renton High School, and fell in love. They married and moved to a small house in suburban Seattle, where their children have lived all their lives. Karen is a veterinarian who works at the nearby clinic and Joseph is an astronomer and an astronomy teacher at Seattle University.

The relationship between Natalia and her family are varied. Natalia's 15-year-old sister (a Sophomore at Aurora) Rebecca is short tempered, and she argues over a lot of things with Natalia. Most of these arguments are over things that aren't really important, such as chore assignments, privileges, the remote, the usual sibling fights. Rebecca has a natural disdain for her older sister that stemmed from a lot of arguing as children. Rebecca often voiced her opinion in a demanding way, and Natalia found this infuriating. Instead of trying to compromise, Natalia argued back. Seeing this as a threat, Rebecca would rebut, and an argument would erupt. Seeing no way out, Natalia would continue these arguments. On the contrary, Rebecca's twin sister, Jessica, is much kinder and sweeter. Natalia and Jessica are close, and Jessica confides in Natalia often. Natalia is often willing to look after or carpool Jessica and her friends, which annoys Rebecca. Natalia and her mother also share a close bond. Her mother sees the tension between the siblings, and often takes the family out to dinner or to the theaters. Natalia loves these, and she and Jessica get excited over these outings. Her mother is more involved in her life than her father, as he usually works at night and is a self-proclaimed workaholic. Natalia has a slight dislike for him because of this, but her father seems oblivious to this, and justifies his workaholic tendencies with the argument that the job brings in money, keeping the family economically stable.

Her first stuffed animal was a stuffed koala that her mom got from a souvenir shop in Australia on a trip shortly after Natalia was 2. She loved the stuffed animal, naming it Skip. She brought Skip everywhere she went, including school. Even now, Natalia sleeps with it, and sometimes sneaks him into her locker.

When she entered school, Natalia was quite shy. She met a girl named Denise Dickerson, who was quite the social butterfly, and made fast friends with her. Feeling less shy around Denise, Natalia made friends with other girls that she was introduced to. Another reason she made friends was that she was kind and friendly to her classmates. Plus, unlike most girls her age, she made friends with the opposite gender, because she couldn't find anything different about boys, although most others did. Even now, she is well-liked by most of her classmates, and makes friends with everybody, as long as they'd like to. Associating with some of the outcasts at Aurora doesn't put her in the popular crowd, but she has friends in there as well. Natalia loves to help people in need, especially those being bullied, so that she can introduce cheer into people's lives, and a kind person can do that. That doesn't necessarily mean she makes friends out of pity, Natalia is just a friendly person who'll help anybody out of trouble. This is somewhat troublesome, as Natalia sometimes over trusts people. Natalia isn't taken advantage of often, but some kids tell her that they're being bullied and Natalia helps them. This has led to numerous incidents involving Natalia trying to convince people to stop bullying the person who pretended, but she inevitably finds out. The accused person usually tells Natalia the truth while she's confronting them, and Natalia is embarrassed. The pretend-bully usually dislikes Natalia after that. She then avoids the liar, trying not to be mad at them.

Despite having many friends, there was a small group of kids who teased her throughout the school years. They often called her 'Koala', because she still carried Skip around and her last name sounded like it. She resented it at first, but the group of kids persisted. To get back at them, she officially adopted it as a nickname in the 5th grade. The other kids liked it too, and a lot of her classmates have been calling her 'Koala' up until the end of senior year.

Her parents' jobs affected her greatly. Koala's dad got her a telescope at age 7, and she began to look through it often. She began to write down all the constellations she's seen, and sometimes brings up the topic of constellations in conversations. Her mother took her on trips to the vet, and she learned the basics to caring for a dog. Her friendly and willing-to-help attitude helped with calming some animals down, and lessened the stress of having to deal with a frightened pet. Curious, Natalia began to ask why the jobs were important. Her parents told her that it was to help society by keeping their pets healthy and enriching their knowledge of the universe. Excited about how her parents were helping people and wanting to help people too, she aspired to follow in their footsteps, as she wanted to help people as well. Natalia began to take a lot of biology and astronomy classes, and works hard to get a job in either profession. She wanted a pet, but Jessica had a severe pet dander allergy.

Joseph and Karen wanted their children to be well-rounded. Luckily, Natalia wanted to be well-rounded too. Sadly, Natalia wanted to see if she liked other things (such as knitting or writing), not instruments, as she was enrolled in flute classes along with her siblings during 3rd grade. Her parents were deaf to her complaints, as they wanted their child to learn an instrument, which they saw as an average skill most other kids had. Despite trying not to cooperate, Natalia was surprised when she played well. Taking a liking to the classes, she worked harder, and eventually learned the instrument. Natalia stopped taking the lessons in her sophomore year, but often browses the internet for music sheets. She recently joined the school orchestra.

The Kowalski family are Baptists, but not very good ones. They don't go to church on a regular basis, and generally allow their children not to go. When she did attend, Natalia found that church greatly depressed her, making it look like that it was hopeless to try to get into heaven, and that she was more likely to burn in Hell. It didn't help that the church they go to is the most traditional one in Seattle, and the people going there are usually very conservative as well. In fact, her own family is very conservative, and her parents instill these beliefs on their children despite their poor church attendance record. They actually do like to teach their kids about the Bible themselves, explaining their lack of church attendance.

When Natalia entered middle school, Denise moved to St. Paul, as her father's job had transferred him there. Even though they kept in touch, Koala was still distressed, and sought out a new best friend. After finding another best friend (Ashley Warner, a girl in the year under Natalia.) she found that she thought girls were very pretty. After some soul-searching, she realized that she found both genders attractive while in her freshman year. Scared that she'd be ridiculed by some people for being a bisexual, she began to flirt with her male classmates in order to establish herself as a heterosexual, and eventually started dating Edgar Wood, a nice boy from the Industrial Arts club she really liked. It didn't take her long to realize that a majority of the students at Aurora (and Seattle in general) would be perfectly fine with her sexuality. Finding that somewhat comforting, she came out in her late sophomore year. Natalia still hasn't come out to her parents, despite the fact she's told her younger siblings about it. She still fears that her parents won't accept it, and keeps it a secret around her parents. While her younger siblings are much more tolerant about it, Rebecca sees it as blackmail, even though she has little to no trouble with it. It's a common thing for them to feud about, and she has threatened to tell their parents from time to time. This only deepens Natalia's dislike of Rebecca, and doesn't see why she does it.

After a while, Natalia began to think to herself and question God's existence. She looked through several books on history and biology, and found that God might just not exist, and science explains evolution and the creation of the universe better than the Bible. Satisfied with this answer, Natalia became an atheist. This has lifted the stress off her, and Natalia is happy for that. The shock of an afterlife not existing jarred Natalia at first, but she has accepted it. Now that she's atheist, the sinful nature of bisexuality should be lifted, but it's imbedded into her brain, and she can't shake that belief. It has died down since she's come out, though, but it's the reason she's fearful about confirming her sexuality with her parents. She hasn't told her parents about her atheism either, but she has made some hints towards it. It's flown over their heads, though, and they allow her to skip church. Natalia feels somewhat guilty about keeping this secret, but it's one of those things she feels extremely guilty and depressed about for a period of time before forgetting it. They've noticed that she's acting odd, but Joseph and Karen aren't suspicious in the slightest. They have questioned her about it, but Natalia either excuses herself or they notice how it's a sore subject with her and leaves her alone.

Natalia has a wide social circle, and strives to be generally accepted by the majority of Aurora High School's student population. She usually puts her peers' opinion of her over the opinion of anybody else, and tries to keep in good standing with them. While it's not usually a problem (she's a very friendly and talkative person around other people), her gullibility has caused her some problems in the past. Some kids have toyed with her, sometimes telling her there's a pop quiz in some class or that so-and-so dislikes her. Natalia has tried to be less gullible, but some people are very convincing. Her relationship with Edgar is somewhat strained, due to Edgar's grudge against her for keeping her bisexuality a secret. Not only that, but the boy has cheated on her in the past (Edgar is the flirty type, and has slept around), and it's been a turbulent relationship since their junior year. Natalia feels betrayed and has made his infidelity very public, and it's common knowledge around Aurora. She feels that he got impatient, as Natalia wanted to stay a virgin until marriage, and the bell went off when he checked positive for Chlamydia. Natalia and Edgar aren't willing to let a long relationship go to waste, so the two grudgingly stay together. Her parents do like Edgar, as he seems to be a nice Christian boy to them and they generally keep out of her romantic life. They haven't heard of Edgar's unfaithfulness and Natalia has planned for it to stay that way, as she has struck up many deals with Rebecca to keep her mouth shut about it (doing chores, driving her around, etc.)

Her grades vary from subject to subject. Her experience with astronomy got her determined to get good grades in science. Contrasting, she struggles with language arts, due to being a poor writer, and math confuses her. Natalia also downright hates Vietnamese due to the level of difficulty and Mrs. Tran's methods of teaching, including the no-English rule. Gym is a struggle, mostly due to her shape. Natalia doesn't really try, and is apathetic to her gym grades, mainly because she believes that most of the jobs in the world require intelligence. She hopes to follow in either of her parents' footsteps, and strives for good grades in classes she believes are essential to being either an astronomer or a veterinarian. Since math is essential to astronomy, Natalia is disappointed by her math grades, and often asks her parents to help her with the subject. They're usually happy to oblige.

Advantages: She's well liked, and might be able to make alliances. Her kind demeanor and friendly attitude might allow people to trust her.

Disadvantages: Natalia isn't physically fit and has low stamina, so fleeing/combat isn't an option. Plus, Natalia is gullible and over-trusting.

Designated Number: Female student No. 049

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Designated Weapon: Tufts 17/23 Dental Explorer

Conclusion: This girl seems fickle and spineless. I almost envy someone who could turn their faith, or the lack thereof, on and off like a lightbulb. Maybe this weapon will cause her to reevaluate that choice. - Abby Soto

'The above biography is as written by leAloha. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: leAloha, SOTF_Help

Kills: None

Killed By: Collar Detonation

Collected Weapons: Tufts 17/23 Dental Explorer (designated weapon)

Allies: Joey Grey

Enemies: None

Mid-game Evaluation: Natalia woke up in the Hotel, quickly despairing over her situation. Her cries attracted Joey Grey, who Natalia tried to fend off with a granola bar. She quickly calmed down, though, as she and Joey formed an alliance. After taking inventory, they departed for the Hospital by Joey's suggestion, as there could be supplies or people there.

Upon arriving at the Hospital, the two began scavenging for supplies. Natalia began taking some sheets and prompted her partner to scavenge as well. However, Joey abandoned her due to commitment issues. After looting the supply closet of spare medical supplies, she tried to alert Joey, surprised that he wasn't there. Fearing her ally's well-being, Natalia set off to find him.

Disheartened by her fruitless efforts to find him, Natalia lingered in The Shipping Yard in hopes that she could settle in. Once it became a danger zone, however, her panicked attempt at escape left her with a twisted ankle and trapped in her sanctuary. Natalia spent her last moments trying desperately to escape before her collar detonated.

Post-Game Evaluation: G049 is a shining example of what happens when you let someone betray you in this game and your luck runs out. Other than that, there's nothing really of note here. - Jim Greynolds

Memorable Quotes:

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Natalia, in chronological order.

V5 Pregame:
 * Prom Ballots

V5:
 * Fanciful Surroundings
 * Arriving to a Possible Sanctuary
 * Once Again

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Natalia Kowalski. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * I guess I should be more constructive here. It's painfully clear that Natalia is one of my early characters (along with pretty much all of my V5 kids and my lone Program kid) and my most glaring flaw is my inconsistencies. Natalia quickly composed herself in Joey's presence, and she quickly fell into the tactician archetype I oh-so tend to do with my kids. Re-reading my old wiriting for her is painful, expecially her dialogue. However, I like to go by the old adage "pracice makes perfect", and I hope to conquer my bad writing habits with my future kids. -leAloha